Rapeseed-The New King of Renewable Energy?

Just two years into biodiesel development, Taiwan had already built a distribution system for the fuel. Buses in Kaohsiung and Chiayi, as well as garbage trucks in many other areas, now run on 2-5% biodiesel blends, and gas stations around the island offer B1 biodiesel (a 1% blend). By 2010, all the diesel for sale in Taiwan is expected to be B2 (2%) biodiesel.

Biodiesel is nontoxic, renewable, and relatively nonflammable. As a fuel, it produces lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions than traditional diesel, and improves the quality of diesel-engine exhaust. And standard diesel engines need no modifications to use it. All of which makes biodiesel a promising alternative fuel. But biodiesel has proven stubbornly expensive to produce. Does it have a future?

It is mid-November 2007. The autumn sun still shines brightly over the fields of southern Taiwan. In Hsuehchia Township, Tainan County, Wang Wen-tsun, a contract farmer, is harvesting soybeans with his combine. His 98-horsepower machine shuttles over a 0.4-hectare plot yellow with the drying leaves of the soy plants. Wang's combine finishes the field in a bit over an hour, its tank filled with threshed beans ready to be made into soymilk or soy sauce.

The soybeans Wang has harvested over the last few days will be dried in the sun before being delivered to a farmers' association storage facility. In two weeks, Taiwan NJC Corporation, a biodiesel producer that has a contract with the Hsuehchia farmers' association, will deliver the beans to an affiliated facility, which will extract the oil. That oil will be sent to Taiwan NJC for transesterification, the process that turns it into biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters), and the resulting biodiesel will then be blended with conventional diesel or used "straight" state to power cars and machinery.

Wang saw the potential in energy crops two years ago and spent more than NT$3.5 million on a Japanese combine designed to harvest popular energy crops-soybeans, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds. To get the most out of his investment, Wang planted energy crops on his own land, leased an additional 20 hectares, and began bringing in harvests for other farmers (charging NT$10,000 per hectare).

"In the spring and fall of 2007, Hsuehchia produced more than 800 hectares of energy soybeans under contract," says Li Ming-hsi, head of the Hsuehchia Agricultural Extension Office. Li says that more than 300 local farmers contributed to that total, not just large contract farmers like Wang.

Wang Wen-tsun's expensive 98-horsepower combine is incredibly efficient. It harvests bean pods and threshes the beans simultaneous while being driven over a field.

Don't let the fields stand idle!

The Hsuehchia area was originally a producer of dry-field crops such as corn and sorghum, but the steady rains of the spring monsoon meant farmers were effectively limited to a single autumn crop. When Taiwan entered the WTO in 2002, many small local growers couldn't compete with imported produce.

"We suggested to farmers that rather than letting their fields go fallow and the cluster caterpillars [Spodoptera litura] run wild, they should turn to energy crops," says Li. He explains that farmers receive a NT$45,000 per hectare per season subsidy for fallow fields producing green fertilizers such as sesbania and rapeseed, which are plowed under to nourish the soil in which they grew. After deducting their costs, such as seeds and plowing, farmers net about NT$38,000 per hectare from fallow fields. Those that grow energy crops instead can continue to receive their original subsidy, as well as sell their produce to biodiesel plants for about NT$12 per kilogram. When you factor in the NT$15,000 per hectare subsidy they receive for materials, assume a harvest of approximately 1,500 kilos per hectare, and deduct their actual labor and materials costs (about NT$40,000), farmers can net about the same amount-something over NT$30,000 per hectare-by growing energy crops. Though their income is the same either way, farmers are deeply attached to their land. In the latter scenario, they can prevent weeds and bugs from running rampant on their fallow fields while also doing something about the energy crisis.

The farmers' association also encourages older, physically less able farmers to lease their land to contract farming centers, which then collect the idle-field subsidies. Though elderly owners who lease their land receive only NT$30,000 per season in rental income, they are more at ease knowing that their fields are being cared for.

In 2006, the Agriculture and Food Agency of the COA began promoting a pilot program aimed at encouraging farmers in Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung Counties to cultivate energy crops. Hsuehchia has been one of the three townships most actively participating in the program.

But for all its enthusiasm, the township has found energy crops a tough row to hoe.

Rapeseed's 50% oil yield is the highest of the three oil-rich crops selected by the government. Sunflower seeds, which yield 30-40%, are next, followed by soybeans, which yield about 20%. The pilot program tested all three crops in its first year. Rapeseed, native to temperate regions, tolerated heat poorly even in an improved variety. Testers also found it to be vulnerable to infestation by cabbage butterfly larvae in the spring growing season. Sunflower seeds presented a different set of problems: losses to birds were high and testers found no secondary uses for the non-seed portions of the plants. Soybeans, on the other hand, can be put to use even after their oil is extracted-the meal remaining after pressing can be sold as livestock feed and the glycerin that occurs as a byproduct of biodiesel production has uses in cosmetics and medical products. The value of these secondary products has led oil processors to prefer soybeans, the crop with the lowest oil yield, over sunflower seeds, making soybeans Taiwan's default energy crop.

The pilot program turned its focus to soybeans in its second year, but results fell short of expectations. Typhoon Krosa caused flooding that forced farmers to replant two-thirds of their fields, and a second consecutive warm winter led to an explosion of cluster caterpillars. Though the caterpillars originated in fallow fields planted with sesbania, they wrought havoc on nearby energy crops. Farmers had to spray repeatedly with pesticides, increasing their costs. And, making matters worse, "Yields were only about 60% of forecasts," says Wang.

Don't let the fields stand idle!

The Hsuehchia area was originally a producer of dry-field crops such as corn and sorghum, but the steady rains of the spring monsoon meant farmers were effectively limited to a single autumn crop. When Taiwan entered the WTO in 2002, many small local growers couldn't compete with imported produce.

"We suggested to farmers that rather than letting their fields go fallow and the cluster caterpillars [Spodoptera litura] run wild, they should turn to energy crops," says Li. He explains that farmers receive a NT$45,000 per hectare per season subsidy for fallow fields producing green fertilizers such as sesbania and rapeseed, which are plowed under to nourish the soil in which they grew. After deducting their costs, such as seeds and plowing, farmers net about NT$38,000 per hectare from fallow fields. Those that grow energy crops instead can continue to receive their original subsidy, as well as sell their produce to biodiesel plants for about NT$12 per kilogram. When you factor in the NT$15,000 per hectare subsidy they receive for materials, assume a harvest of approximately 1,500 kilos per hectare, and deduct their actual labor and materials costs (about NT$40,000), farmers can net about the same amount-something over NT$30,000 per hectare-by growing energy crops. Though their income is the same either way,farmers are deeply attached to their land. In the latter scenario, they can prevent weeds and bugs from running rampant on their fallow fields while also doing something about the energy crisis.

The farmers' association also encourages older, physically less able farmers to lease their land to contract farming centers, which then collect the idle-field subsidies. Though elderly owners who lease their land receive only NT$30,000 per season in rental income, they are more at ease knowing that their fields are being cared for.

In 2006, the Agriculture and Food Agency of the COA began promoting a pilot program aimed at encouraging farmers in Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung Counties to cultivate energy crops. Hsuehchia has been one of the three townships most actively participating in the program.

But for all its enthusiasm, the township has found energy crops a tough row to hoe.

Rapeseed's 50% oil yield is the highest of the three oil-rich crops selected by the government. Sunflower seeds, which yield 30-40%, are next, followed by soybeans, which yield about 20%. The pilot program tested all three crops in its first year. Rapeseed, native to temperate regions, tolerated heat poorly even in an improved variety. Testers also found it to be vulnerable to infestation by cabbage butterfly larvae in the spring growing season. Sunflower seeds presented a different set of problems: losses to birds were high and testers found no secondary uses for the non-seed portions of the plants. Soybeans, on the other hand, can be put to use even after their oil is extracted-the meal remaining after pressing can be sold as livestock feed and the glycerin that occurs as a byproduct of biodiesel production has uses in cosmetics and medical products. The value of these secondary products has led oil processors to prefer soybeans, the crop with the lowest oil yield, over sunflower seeds, making soybeans Taiwan's default energy crop.

The pilot program turned its focus to soybeans in its second year, but results fell short of expectations. Typhoon Krosa caused flooding that forced farmers to replant two-thirds of their fields, and a second consecutive warm winter led to an explosion of cluster caterpillars. Though the caterpillars originated in fallow fields planted with sesbania, they wrought havoc on nearby energy crops. Farmers had to spray repeatedly with pesticides, increasing their costs. And, making matters worse, "Yields were only about 60% of forecasts," says Wang.

Taiwanese biodiesel producers have turned to soybeans as their primary source of raw materials.

Limited production

The smaller harvests that resulted from the typhoon and the pests reduced interest in cultivating energy crops and forced the Agriculture and Food Agency to cut its production estimates. The AFA had originally forecast that double cropping would yield 800 liters of biodiesel per hectare (versus 800-1,000 liters in the US and Canada). The revised estimate was only 600 liters. The actual amount of land in cultivation also fell from a planned 8,000 hectares in 2007 to only 3,000-plus hectares.

In spite of these setbacks, Taiwan has now completed the second stage of a four-stage plan for the promotion of biodiesel, developed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Bureau of Energy. Stage 2 was the construction of a comprehensive biodiesel distribution system-the cultivation of bioenergy crops, the processing of fuel, and the creation of an end-user distribution network. But the supply of raw materials is falling short of processors' demand. Making matters worse for local growers, the COA's NT$15,000 subsidy will be eliminated and the raw materials market opened to international competition in 2008. With their incomes from energy crops likely to fall, farmers will almost certainly plant less.

For all that energy crop production has failed to meet expectations, businesspeople have been throwing themselves into the construction of biodiesel plants in hopes of becoming the Wang Yung-ching of biodiesel. Six firms each in the north, south and center of the island have put forward plant proposals, and four have been approved. Taiwan NJC, which leapt to the forefront two years ago, is in the process of expanding its plant's capacity from 3,000 kiloliters per year to 20,000. And Econergy Taiwan invested NT$1 billion in a 100,000 kiloliter facility in the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park in late 2006.

Taiwan's tender price for biodiesel is currently NT$39 per liter, which is significantly higher than the NT$30 per liter seen in Germany. The government thus offers oil companies a subsidy on biodiesel to make up the difference between its price and the NT$26 per liter price of conventional diesel. It expects to subsidize annual production of 6,500 kiloliters at this level.

An expensive solution?

Taiwan NJC CEO Chang Chih-yu got his start manufacturing the ingredients used by the Nice Group to make its shampoos, and says that the transesterification process is very similar. Biodiesel production doesn't require advanced technologies or equipment. Its high cost stems largely from the cost of raw materials.

For the last two years, Taiwan NJC has used two major raw materials to produce biodiesel-soybeans grown on subsidized fallow land, and waste food oil. Waste food oil costs less, but its cold filter plugging point (the temperature at which liquid fuel begins to gel) is relatively high, meaning that only relatively small amounts of it can be included in blends. Soybeans, meanwhile, have an oil yield of only 20%. One liter of soybean oil yields about one liter of biodiesel but the beans needed to yield this amount cost over NT$80. It costs manufacturers nearly NT$40 per liter to produce biodiesel after accounting for the cost of transesterification and income from byproducts.

Chang says that with petroleum prices soaring and the possibility that supplies will be exhausted in the next 40 years, the world is frantically working to develop alternative energy resources. It is no wonder then that energy conservation is taking precedence over capital conservation. Chang argues that the only way to bring down biodiesel costs is to continue to grow the market, which will spur further development of the technology and lead to the emergence of highly productive energy crops.

Chang notes that diesel is cheap and that diesel vehicles have a life expectancy of 400,000-500,000 kilometers, or about twice that of gasoline-powered vehicles. He further notes that diesel vehicles have been heavily promoted in the environmentally oriented European Union because of their exceptional efficiency. In Germany, more than 50% of the passenger cars on the road are now diesels. And diesel-powered vehicles are continuing to get better. Toyota's imminent entry into the diesel market suggests that Asia's automotive market may be in for a change as well.

Biodiesel also rates well in terms of "energy return on energy invested" (EROEI), a subject of much recent concern. In fact, biodiesel generates an average 3.2 units of energy for every unit of energy spent in its production. This, and its great potential for further improvement, suggests that the government and public should continue to support its development.

Limited production

The smaller harvests that resulted from the typhoon and the pests reduced interest in cultivating energy crops and forced the Agriculture and Food Agency to cut its production estimates. The AFA had originally forecast that double cropping would yield 800 liters of biodiesel per hectare (versus 800-1,000 liters in the US and Canada). The revised estimate was only 600 liters. The actual amount of land in cultivation also fell from a planned 8,000 hectares in 2007 to only 3,000-plus hectares.

In spite of these setbacks, Taiwan has now completed the second stage of a four-stage plan for the promotion of biodiesel, developed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Bureau of Energy. Stage 2 was the construction of a comprehensive biodiesel distribution system-the cultivation of bioenergy crops, the processing of fuel, and the creation of an end-user distribution network. But the supply of raw materials is falling short of processors' demand. Making matters worse for local growers, the COA's NT$15,000 subsidy will be eliminated and the raw materials market opened to international competition in 2008. With their incomes from energy crops likely to fall, farmers will almost certainly plant less.

For all that energy crop production has failed to meet expectations, businesspeople have been throwing themselves into the construction of biodiesel plants in hopes of becoming the Wang Yung-ching of biodiesel. Six firms each in the north, south and center of the island have put forward plant proposals, and four have been approved. Taiwan NJC, which leapt to the forefront two years ago, is in the process of expanding its plant's capacity from 3,000 kiloliters per year to 20,000. And Econergy Taiwan invested NT$1 billion in a 100,000 kiloliter facility in the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park in late 2006.

Taiwan's tender price for biodiesel is currently NT$39 per liter, which is significantly higher than the NT$30 per liter seen in Germany. The government thus offers oil companies a subsidy on biodiesel to make up the difference between its price and the NT$26 per liter price of conventional diesel. It expects to subsidize annual production of 6,500 kiloliters at this level.

Two years into its promotion of biodiesel, Taiwan has a complete production and distribution system in place. Many gas stations around the island now offer B1 diesel, a blend containing 1% biodiesel.

Materials the key

In contrast to bioethanol production, which is technologically intensive, biodiesel has relatively low technological barriers to entry. Instead, it is materials costs that are crucial to competitiveness. In Taiwan, where energy-crop production is low and costs are high, many biodiesel market entrants are clearly anticipating being able to import cheap palm and other vegetable oils from Southeast Asia when the market is liberalized. But others believe that the outlook for local oil production is positive and are investing in experimenting locally with a variety of oil crops. Econergy Taiwan, for example, is working with the Changhua County Government on a program that contracts farmers to grow tung oil trees (Aleurites fordii). Among the advantages these trees offer is an oil yield several times that of soybeans and the ability to be cultivated on polluted farmland. Taiwan NJC, on the other hand, is investigating the physic nut (Jatropha curcas), which has a potential oil yield of up to 50% and can be grown on marginal land or forestland.

"If bioenergy is to be viable in the long term, it cannot sacrifice people for oil," says Lee Chien-ming, an assistant professor with the Institute of Natural Resource Management at National Taipei University. "If we are to avoid shrinking food supplies and causing food prices to soar, we must eschew the appropriation of agricultural land." Lee says that the world's biodiesel producers are currently working on the development of new energy crops with a particular focus on oil trees. This will avoid competition with food producers and may also help conserve forests, cutting greenhouse gases. While poor yields from marginal land, high costs, and as-yet-immature technology may mean difficulties in the short run, the long-term potential is great.

What the agriculture industry and environmentalists fear is that cost-conscious producers will import foreign vegetable oils and process them here.

"How is importing bio-oils any different from relying on petroleum imports?" asks Su Jung-tsan, head of Yunghsiang Farming, a contract farming business based in Chiali Township, Tainan County. Su says the high cost of local energy crops is closely connected to the varieties selected, the time required to cultivate them, and the locale. Three years of active experimentation have persuaded Su that Taiwan still has a lot of room to improve yields and lower costs. He hopes biodiesel producers don't abandon them too quickly.

Waiting for an opportunity

"Take soybeans, for example," says Su. "If you choose the wrong variety, the plants won't survive the rainy season, which naturally affects your harvest." Su explains that timing the sowing of bean crops requires estimating the amount of solar radiation. Misjudging by a week can delay the harvest by two weeks and affect the yield. Rapeseed yields, on the other hand, depend upon the temperature. In Taiwan, oilseed rape grows best from Changhua County northward. Planted in the wrong location, it performs poorly. In the spring of 2006, Su planted Tainan No. 1 and Kaohsiung No. 10 soybeans, and harvested 2,000-2,500 kilograms per hectare. In the fall, he went with an Australian variety that yielded 3,000 kilograms per hectare, or nearly twice what farmers in other townships brought in.

"Our exhaustive experimentation has already borne fruit," says Su. "But if the fallow-subsidies policy isn't changed, it will be very hard to expand energy-crop cultivation." Su wonders why farmers would break their backs growing energy crops when they can receive NT$45,000 for letting fields lie fallow. The only way to provide them with a real incentive to turn fallow fields to energy crop production would be by remaking the subsidy into some kind of energy-crop management fee.

An expensive solution?

Taiwan NJC CEO Chang Chih-yu got his start manufacturing the ingredients used by the Nice Group to make its shampoos, and says that the transesterification process is very similar. Biodiesel production doesn't require advanced technologies or equipment. Its high cost stems largely from the cost of raw materials.

For the last two years, Taiwan NJC has used two major raw materials to produce biodiesel-soybeans grown on subsidized fallow land, and waste food oil. Waste food oil costs less, but its cold filter plugging point (the temperature at which liquid fuel begins to gel) is relatively high, meaning that only relatively small amounts of it can be included in blends. Soybeans, meanwhile, have an oil yield of only 20%. One liter of soybean oil yields about one liter of biodiesel but the beans needed to yield this amount cost over NT$80. It costs manufacturers nearly NT$40 per liter to produce biodiesel after accounting for the cost of transesterification and income from byproducts.

Chang says that with petroleum prices soaring and the possibility that supplies will be exhausted in the next 40 years, the world is frantically working to develop alternative energy resources. It is no wonder then that energy conservation is taking precedence over capital conservation. Chang argues that the only way to bring down biodiesel costs is to continue to grow the market, which will spur further development of the technology and lead to the emergence of highly productive energy crops.

Chang notes that diesel is cheap and that diesel vehicles have a life expectancy of 400,000-500,000 kilometers, or about twice that of gasoline-powered vehicles. He further notes that diesel vehicles have been heavily promoted in the environmentally oriented European Union because of their exceptional efficiency. In Germany, more than 50% of the passenger cars on the road are now diesels. And diesel-powered vehicles are continuing to get better. Toyota's imminent entry into the diesel market suggests that Asia's automotive market may be in for a change as well.

Biodiesel also rates well in terms of "energy return on energy invested" (EROEI), a subject of much recent concern. In fact, biodiesel generates an average 3.2 units of energy for every unit of energy spent in its production. This, and its great potential for further improvement, suggests that the government and public should continue to support its development.

Crop costs aren't the only link in the production chain with room for improvement. Others include pressing methods, transesterification techniques, and logistics. For example, Taiwan NJC currently sends soybeans to Taichung Harbor to be pressed, then sends the extracted oil to Chiayi for transesterification. This means that, in a sense, petroleum is being transformed into biodiesel, which wastes energy and increases costs. Su is calling for the government to encourage the formation of small, regional biodiesel companies around the island. Handling everything locally, from growing the soybeans to selling the biodiesel, would reduce the consumption of petroleum-derived energy.

Su Tsung-chen is head of the Crop Production Division of the AFA, which is responsible for the promotion of energy crops. He says that though Taiwan's program to grow soybeans for energy has not advanced as much as expected, its policy remains unchanged. The AFA will continue to promote measures such as the mechanization of agriculture and labor-saving collective management (farming on large plots saves farmers one or two visits to the fields) to lower costs and increase farmers' interest in energy crops.

Biodiesel's outlook may appear limited when compared to that of bioethanol, which has a huge market and tremendous potential to cut costs. But keeping our energy-crop policy in place is likely to spur the ongoing development of related technologies. Perhaps one day if we can find a use for the portions of sunflowers not converted into oil, the situation will change. (See article on bioethanol, on next page.)

"In Germany, which has been developing biodiesel for more than a decade, it accounts for around 3% of the diesel market," says Su Tsung-chen. "It's asking a lot for Taiwan to catch up in the short term. We hope everyone will give us a little time." Su argues that the energy-crop policy is good for the environment and good for agriculture, and says that our agricultural agencies will apply themselves vigorously to its implementation.

Materials the key

In contrast to bioethanol production, which is technologically intensive, biodiesel has relatively low technological barriers to entry. Instead, it is materials costs that are crucial to competitiveness. In Taiwan, where energy-crop production is low and costs are high, many biodiesel market entrants are clearly anticipating being able to import cheap palm and other vegetable oils from Southeast Asia when the market is liberalized. But others believe that the outlook for local oil production is positive and are investing in experimenting locally with a variety of oil crops. Econergy Taiwan, for example, is working with the Changhua County Government on a program that contracts farmers to grow tung oil trees (Aleurites fordii). Among the advantages these trees offer is an oil yield several times that of soybeans and the ability to be cultivated on polluted farmland. Taiwan NJC, on the other hand, is investigating the physic nut (Jatropha curcas), which has a potential oil yield of up to 50% and can be grown on marginal land or forestland.

"If bioenergy is to be viable in the long term, it cannot sacrifice people for oil," says Lee Chien-ming, an assistant professor with the Institute of Natural Resource Management at National Taipei University. "If we are to avoid shrinking food supplies and causing food prices to soar, we must eschew the appropriation of agricultural land." Lee says that the world's biodiesel producers are currently working on the development of new energy crops with a particular focus on oil trees. This will avoid competition with food producers and may also help conserve forests, cutting greenhouse gases. While poor yields from marginal land, high costs, and as-yet-immature technology may mean difficulties in the short run, the long-term potential is great.

What the agriculture industry and environmentalists fear is that cost-conscious producers will import foreign vegetable oils and process them here.

"How is importing bio-oils any different from relying on petroleum imports?" asks Su Jung-tsan, head of Yunghsiang Farming, a contract farming business based in Chiali Township, Tainan County. Su says the high cost of local energy crops is closely connected to the varieties selected, the time required to cultivate them, and the locale. Three years of active experimentation have persuaded Su that Taiwan still has a lot of room to improve yields and lower costs. He hopes biodiesel producers don't abandon them too quickly.

Waiting for an opportunity

"Take soybeans, for example," says Su. "If you choose the wrong variety, the plants won't survive the rainy season, which naturally affects your harvest." Su explains that timing the sowing of bean crops requires estimating the amount of solar radiation. Misjudging by a week can delay the harvest by two weeks and affect the yield. Rapeseed yields, on the other hand, depend upon the temperature. In Taiwan, oilseed rape grows best from Changhua County northward. Planted in the wrong location, it performs poorly. In the spring of 2006, Su planted Tainan No. 1 and Kaohsiung No. 10 soybeans, and harvested 2,000-2,500 kilograms per hectare. In the fall, he went with an Australian variety that yielded 3,000 kilograms per hectare, or nearly twice what farmers in other townships brought in.

"Our exhaustive experimentation has already borne fruit," says Su. "But if the fallow-subsidies policy isn't changed, it will be very hard to expand energy-crop cultivation." Su wonders why farmers would break their backs growing energy crops when they can receive NT$45,000 for letting fields lie fallow. The only way to provide them with a real incentive to turn fallow fields to energy crop production would be by remaking the subsidy into some kind of energy-crop management fee.

Crop costs aren't the only link in the production chain with room for improvement. Others include pressing methods, transesterification techniques, and logistics. For example, Taiwan NJC currently sends soybeans to Taichung Harbor to be pressed, then sends the extracted oil to Chiayi for transesterification. This means that, in a sense, petroleum is being transformed into biodiesel, which wastes energy and increases costs. Su is calling for the government to encourage the formation of small, regional biodiesel companies around the island. Handling everything locally, from growing the soybeans to selling the biodiesel, would reduce the consumption of petroleum-derived energy.

Su Tsung-chen is head of the Crop Production Division of the AFA, which is responsible for the promotion of energy crops. He says that though Taiwan's program to grow soybeans for energy has not advanced as much as expected, its policy remains unchanged. The AFA will continue to promote measures such as the mechanization of agriculture and labor-saving collective management (farming on large plots saves farmers one or two visits to the fields) to lower costs and increase farmers' interest in energy crops.

Biodiesel's outlook may appear limited when compared to that of bioethanol, which has a huge market and tremendous potential to cut costs. But keeping our energy-crop policy in place is likely to spur the ongoing development of related technologies. Perhaps one day if we can find a use for the portions of sunflowers not converted into oil, the situation will change. (See article on bioethanol, on next page.)

"In Germany, which has been developing biodiesel for more than a decade, it accounts for around 3% of the diesel market," says Su Tsung-chen. "It's asking a lot for Taiwan to catch up in the short term. We hope everyone will give us a little time." Su argues that the energy-crop policy is good for the environment and good for agriculture, and says that our agricultural agencies will apply themselves vigorously to its implementation.